Knife vs. gun vid clears S.I. cops
Body camera footage released by the NYPD Thursday captures the frantic seconds during which two Staten Island cops fired six shots each, killing a drunken 50-year-old man armed with a knife telling cops, “Shoot me.”
One of the cops, Officer Amir Pali, was struck near the stomach by a bullet fired by his partner, Officer Salvatore Balistreri, and was cut on his hand by the suspect, Faustino Dioso. Pali spent two days in the hospital and was then released.
Police at the time of the Dec. 9, 2018, incident said the suspect was unfazed by a Taser jolt and came at police with a knife with a 14-inch long blade.
That can’t be fully discerned from either officers’ footage but in September 2019 the NYPD concluded the cops were justified in opening fire. The Staten Island district attorney later agreed the officers had no choice but to fire.
Police were originally called to the home on Bridge Court in Fort Wadsworth by a neighbor who heard yelling and banging on the walls. Dioso was inside with his wife, who can be seen on video trying to get him to drop the knife even as officers screamed at her to move away.
Moments later, Pali fired his Taser, to no effect. At that point, police said, Dioso moved past his wife toward the officers, who fired. Dioso was struck seven times, in the upper body and legs.
The NYPD beginning in September 2017 began releasing body-worn camera footage from officers involved in shootings. The release typically occurs after prosecutors have conducted their investigations and decide there is no evidence to charge an officer, but a police union lawsuit, ultimately unsuccessful, slowed the release of numerous videos.
About 22,000 of the 35,000 cops in the NYPD now wear body cameras, including all officers on patrol and in specialized units. Officers record about 130,000 videos each week.